Resi wrap: Birmingham bustles and London troubles

Welcome to your weekly round-up of residential stories from EG.

Birmingham build-to-rent specialist Blackswan has launched a hunt for funding for an ambitious BTR pipeline under new owner Hungarian investor Cordia.

A year ago, Cordia bought Blackswan, pumping funds into the developer – which has grown to 14 employees and a collection of new schemes. Cordia Blackswan is in pre-planning on a 50-storey vertical village in Birmingham’s Southside and closing in on Rainier Development’s consented Digbeth digs. Now, Cordia founder Gábor Futó is relocating to London in a bid to secure investors to back his growing BTR ambitions for the West Midlands.

As Cordia Blackswan progresses its Moseley Street site, the developer will be just a stone’s throw from new neighbours Goodstone Living. This week, the Macquarie-backed BTR venture agreed its first site as founders Darryl Flay and Martin Bellinger teamed up with former colleague Scott Hammond. The trio established Essential Living almost a decade ago and have been reunited at Hammond’s £130m Camp Hill Gardens scheme. Goodstone will fund the development as the first in a regional strategy to deploy £1bn.

But, while Birmingham BTR continues to attract new investment, some homegrown businesses are beginning to look further afield.

After appointing former Berkeley Homes heavyweight Angus Mitchie to spearhead development in London, SevenCapital has secured its first site. The investor is working up plans for a £200m residential development after buying the Archway Campus on Hillgate Hill from housing association Peabody.

Peabody has been busy planning a takeover of the 37,000-home housing association Catalyst. The company has unveiled plans to make Catalyst a subsidiary, with chief executive Ian McDermott taking the helm, following the departure of Brendan Sarsfield later this year. Peabody already has 67,000 homes and a £1.4bn development pipeline, with major sites in Dagenham, Holloway and Thamesmead. The pair expect a merger to complete next spring.

It’s not the only one seeking partnerships for new growth in London. Sainsbury’s has enlisted Ballymore for its £1.7bn Ladbroke Grove vision. The pair aim to develop 2,800 homes and a new supermarket.

That’s if they can get the London mayor on board, of course. Earlier this week, Sadiq Khan dealt a blow to Singapore’s City Development and Richmond Council with his rejection of 1,250 homes at the £1bn Stag Brewery development. Despite increasing the affordable provision to 30%, Khan said he was still not satisfied. “The council needs to do better,” he said, as he refused approval for both the housing development and a separate application for a secondary school.

View the magazine, download the app (iOS and Android), and read on for more of the week’s headlines.

Developers shrink margins to compete for land

L&G’s £80m Skyliner deal falls flat

BTR maintains momentum as sector swells by 4%

Joint venture selected for £1bn Golden Valley Development

KKR teams up with Gary Neville on £200m Manchester scheme

Calls mount for government action to boost MMC production

Modular student developer secures Maslow backing

Apex Capital Partners buys pair of Old Kent Road sites

Listed Hampstead hostel hits the market

Super-rich snap up record number of trophy homes

Unite submits eco-friendly Paddington scheme